


Fresh Start

by Celandine



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M, One Shot, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-25
Updated: 2012-01-25
Packaged: 2018-08-19 04:16:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8189521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Celandine/pseuds/Celandine
Summary: Harry has promised to return Draco's wand.





	

Draco looked around nervously. This was Muggle territory, and it made him uncomfortable, but he had had no choice -- he had been told where to go. He fingered the parchment in his pocket. There was no need to pull it out. He had reread it so many times in the past week that he had memorized every word.

_Draco,_

_I "borrowed" something of yours some time ago. I know you want it back, and I'm willing to return it to you. Meet me by the statue of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, London, at 4.30 in the afternoon next Saturday._

_Harry_

Shifting position on the bench, Draco felt for the wand in his other pocket. It was his mother's. His own, to Draco's relief, Harry evidently planned to return. He had considered purchasing a new one, but Ollivander had not yet reopened his shop -- if he ever would was an open question still -- and Draco really preferred to get back his own familiar one, if he could.

"Draco."

Distracted by his thoughts, Draco hadn't seen Harry arrive.

"Harry." Draco nodded toward the bronze statue. "Some Muggle hero?"

Chuckling, Harry shook his head. "No, he's a boy in a Muggle story for children; 'the boy who wouldn't grow up'. He's magical in a way, although not our kind of magic. It seemed appropriate."

Draco nodded, trying not to look too eager as he changed the subject to what they were really there for. "You were going to return my wand? I need to be going; I have other plans this evening."

"I doubt it." Harry gave him a considering look. "Don't worry, I'll give it back, but I wanted to talk with you first. Can I buy you a coffee or an ice cream or something?"

Draco didn't much like the idea of being under obligation to Harry for even so much as an ice cream. On the other hand, Harry _had_ saved his life in the Room of Requirement, and that was a considerably greater debt.

"All right."

"There's a café that way." Harry pointed west.

Their sweets secured, they wandered until they found a shady spot with an unoccupied bench. Draco took a bite of his ice cream. It wasn't bad.

"You wanted to talk with me about something? What?"

Harry squinted at him. "What do you think?"

"I have no idea."

"You never answered when I asked in the Room of Requirement why you didn't identify me to Bellatrix. You _must_ have known it was me; the jinx that Hermione cast on my face didn't alter my appearance so much that someone who already knew me wouldn't recognize me. Both your aunt and your father were urging you to say that it was me, and they were quite right that Voldemort would have been delighted to get his hands on me so easily. So why did you hold back?"

"I... I don't know," said Draco.

Harry raised his eyebrows.

"I _don't_ ," Draco protested.

"I don't believe you," said Harry flatly. "You had every reason to tell them who I was, and yet you didn't, so you must have had a reason _not_ to. What was it?"

Draco chewed his lower lip. He could see the outline of his wand in Harry's pocket. "I didn't want you to die," he muttered at last.

"So that's it." Harry's voice was soft, understanding, not sneering at all. "I saw how after you'd disarmed Dumbledore, you were lowering your wand. You didn't want to kill him either."

"You saw that?" Draco was amazed. "How?"

"He had taken me off the grounds that night, and we had just Apparated back. He knew you were coming, I guess, and he made me promise to stay out of sight and do nothing, no matter what happened."

Harry's eyes looked greener than ever, and Draco realized he was on the verge of tears.

"It was the hardest thing I've ever done, to just stand there and watch and do _nothing_. Far harder than fighting Voldemort was."

Draco nodded. "It wasn't quite the same with Dumbledore as with you, though. With him, I was supposed to kill him myself. With you, I wouldn't have been directly responsible. But..." He gnawed his lip again. "This isn't going to make any sense."

"What?"

"I just _couldn't_ say anything about who you were. Even thinking about it made my throat seize up. It was almost as if there were some protective charm at work, but I don't see how there could have been."

"No, you're right, it doesn't make any sense," agreed Harry. He rested his hand on his leg, where the outline of Draco's wand showed. "Thank you for explaining, though. If you had identified me, and Voldemort had been summoned and arrived right away… well, I wouldn't be here now. I felt badly, taking your wand after you'd done that, but I had no choice. I would just give it back to you, but since I originally took it by disarming you, I'm not sure it will be properly yours again if you don't take it from me the same way. We can't do that here, though."

"No, certainly not." Draco looked around at the hundreds of Muggles strolling through the park. "Where?"

"We'll find a spot. Come with me."

They walked for a quarter of an hour, not saying much, until Harry ducked down a tiny alleyway.

"Here." Harry pulled out Draco's wand. "Come on, take it. If you use _Expelliarmus_ I'm sure that will make it yours again."

Draco took out his mother's wand. He hesitated. "Do you have another wand you can use? The Elder wand, maybe?"

"I don't use that." Harry's expression became closed off.

"That sounds like a no to me." Draco hesitated a moment longer, and with some regret, shook his head. "I'll wait until it won't leave you wandless, too."

"That could be months," Harry reminded him. "There's no saying when Ollivander might be back in business."

"I know." Draco took a deep breath. "You'd do the same for me, though."

"I suppose I would." Harry tilted his head and looked at Draco consideringly. "But _you_ needn't. I mended mine -- I wouldn't be wandless. So go on, take yours."

"Really?" Quicker than thought, Draco cried, " _Expelliarmus_!"

The hawthorn and unicorn hair wand had never felt so right in his hand. Draco found himself smiling at Harry, a genuine smile. "Thank you, Harry. I'll tell you what. How about if we pretend that we never spent all those years hating each other, and start fresh today?"

He tucked both his own wand and his mother's away and put out his hand. Harry took it.

"All right."

Together they walked out of the alley and into the sunlit street.


End file.
